Isla Prescott didn't want to be indebted to Shane Sterling, but to be honest, his arrangement was a lifesaver for her at this moment.
Her body and mind both needed some time to recover.
Isla Prescott sat in the private room for a while longer before getting up to change and leave work.
The sky had long since grown dark, but the city center was as bright as day.
Just as she reached the square, she saw Silas Lockwood and Lydia Sinclair.
Bathed in the city's vibrant lights, they emerged from the mall across the street, arm in arm and wearing trench coats of a similar color. Lydia Sinclair was carrying a luxury brand's shopping bag, beaming as she chattered away to Silas Lockwood, who simply gave a faint nod.
Isla Prescott instinctively tried to hide, but there was nowhere to go.
"Isabelle!" Lydia Sinclair spotted her and waved enthusiastically.
Silas Lockwood's gaze followed, and he looked over at her.
Isla Prescott's heart sank. 'I thought today was already long enough,' she thought. 'I guess it's only just beginning.'
Lydia Sinclair pulled Silas Lockwood over toward Isla Prescott.
Isla Prescott knew she should greet them, but her lips felt glued shut. Fortunately, Lydia Sinclair was too caught up in her own excitement to notice anything was amiss.
"Isabelle, what a coincidence! What are you doing here?"
"I just finished my part-time shift."
"Oh, so you work here! My bestie and I shop here all the time. We can come visit you from now on."
'As if we could ever hang out together.' It was just a polite pleasantry.
Isla Prescott saw right through it but could only play along and agree.
"You're heading back to campus now, right? Perfect, we'll give you a ride," Lydia Sinclair added.
"That's okay, I'll take the subway."
Isla Prescott would rather endure a crowded subway than share the same space with them.
"It's late, and it's not safe for a girl to be out alone. Let us drive you," Lydia Sinclair said, nudging Silas Lockwood with her elbow. "Silas, what do you think?"
Silas Lockwood knew exactly what Isla Prescott was resisting, but out of concern for her safety, he said, "Get in. We'll take you back to campus."
Isla Prescott still wanted to refuse, but Lydia Sinclair just grabbed her arm.
"Come on, get in. It's freezing."
Silas Lockwood's white Cayenne was parked by the curb. As they approached, he opened the passenger-side door out of habit, but this time, Isla Prescott was no longer entitled to that seat.
She silently slid into the back seat.
The first thing Lydia Sinclair did after getting in the car was to turn and look at Isla Prescott. "Isabelle, do you like the new car fragrance? I just picked it out for him. It's freesia, my favorite."
"It's nice."
"See? Isabelle thinks it's nice too." Vindicated, Lydia Sinclair immediately scooted closer to Silas Lockwood and playfully pinched his nose. "And here you were saying it doesn't smell like anything. Maybe you should get your nose checked."
Isla Prescott lowered her head. She had braced herself when she got in the car, but seeing them act so affectionately up close still made her heart clench with a familiar ache.
The light, delicate scent of freesia suddenly felt unbearably heavy, making it hard for her to breathe.
Just then, a rear door was suddenly yanked open. A dark figure reeking of alcohol tumbled into the seat, and the Cayenne rocked from the sudden weight.
The person who had just gotten in was Shane Sterling.
Shane Sterling had just escaped a gathering that involved heavy drinking. He rubbed his temples and looked up with bleary, drunken eyes. Seeing that Silas Lockwood wasn't alone, he let out a soft, "Well now."
"Quite a crowd," he said.
Silas Lockwood looked back. "You've been drinking?"
"Yeah, Miles Summers and those old guys kept plying me with drinks." Shane Sterling rolled his neck. "I can't drive, and my driver's off today. I saw your car and hopped in. Give me a lift."
"Sure, but we need to drop Isabelle off at campus first."
Shane Sterling glanced at Isla Prescott. "Doesn't matter. I'm not in a rush."
With that, he leaned back against the seat.
Shane Sterling was tall with long legs, and the way he sat took up more than half of the back seat. Yet Isla Prescott, sitting beside him, didn't feel the least bit uncomfortable. In fact, even the smell of alcohol on him felt like a kind of salvation.
'Thank God,' she thought. 'Finally, I'm not trapped in this car alone with Silas Lockwood and Lydia Sinclair.'
Silas Lockwood started the car and headed toward Isla Prescott's campus.
No one spoke for a while.
Lydia Sinclair couldn't stand the quiet. She put on some music for a bit, then started a voice chat with a friend. While they were stopped at a red light, she suddenly turned around again to look at Shane Sterling.
"Sean, what's really going on with you and Grace?"
The "Grace" Lydia Sinclair mentioned was Shane Sterling's ex-fiancée, Eliza Carter, who had cheated on him.
'Sometimes, Isla Prescott really had to wonder about Lydia Sinclair's emotional intelligence. How was this any different from rubbing salt in a wound?'
As expected, Silas Lockwood couldn't take it anymore. He said sternly to Lydia Sinclair, "Why are you asking about that?"
"What's wrong with asking? My friends and I are all curious."
"You are, are you?" Shane Sterling shifted in his seat, eyeing Lydia Sinclair with a humorless smile. "The last person who asked me about this just got out of the hospital. You, on the other hand, look like you want to get out of the car right now."
"You're going to throw me out of the car?"
"Take a guess."
Lydia Sinclair recoiled. After all, that sounded exactly like something Shane Sterling would do.
She awkwardly turned back around and clammed up, not saying another word.
The drive from downtown to the campus, which should have taken just over half an hour, was dragging on much longer today due to traffic and a string of red lights.
Isla Prescott was looking out the window, lost in her own world, when she suddenly felt a weight on her shoulder.
She instinctively glanced over and saw that Shane Sterling had fallen asleep, his head slumping to rest on her shoulder.
As she turned her head, his hair brushed against her neck, sending a ticklish sensation across her skin.
Isla Prescott instantly went rigid, sitting bolt upright.
"Sean..."
She called his name softly, but instead of waking Shane Sterling, she got Lydia Sinclair's attention.
"Is he asleep?" Lydia Sinclair's tone was sympathetic. "Isabelle, you should probably just put up with it. You really don't want to wake him. He's not someone to mess with."
Silas Lockwood glanced into the rearview mirror.
Shane Sterling was leaning close to Isla Prescott. As the dappled light from outside flickered across their equally striking faces, the dim back seat took on an almost cinematic quality.
Silas Lockwood silently tightened his grip on the steering wheel. His heart felt like a waterlogged sponge, sinking heavily in his chest. It wasn't that he was jealous of anyone in particular; he just had the sudden, sharp realization that from this day forward, his Isabelle would end up with a man who wasn't him.
In the end, Isla Prescott didn't push Shane Sterling away. It wasn't because he was someone not to be messed with, but because she remembered how, several times during this unbearable day, his appearance had given her a moment of peace from her own turbulent emotions.
The car finally broke free from the river of traffic, getting closer and closer to the campus.
The sound of Shane Sterling's steady breathing filled Isla Prescott's ears. To let him sleep more comfortably, she had intentionally kept her shoulder raised the entire way. By the time they reached the campus, her left shoulder was completely numb.
Her only relief was that Shane Sterling hadn't woken up. She wouldn't have to make an awkward goodbye. Better still, in the interest of not disturbing him, she didn't even have to exchange any more pleasantries with Silas Lockwood and Lydia Sinclair.
Isla Prescott got out of the car and watched as Silas's car made a U-turn at the gate and sped away.
The long, long day was finally over.